Tamale Recipe

Join us as we make tamales with our kids for our New Year’s holiday tradition. We enjoy making memories with our family! What are your favorite holiday traditions?

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Chicken Tamale Recipe:

1 pack of boneless, skinless chicken breast OR thighs (approx 4 lbs)
32 oz chicken broth OR water
2-3 lbs manteca (rendered lard OR brown lard)
Half a bag of maseca (4 lbs bag corn masa flour)
3 lbs roma tomatoes (approx 10-12)
2 tablespoon garlic
2 packs of Chile tepin
2 tablespoons butter (to sauté)
1-2 bags of hoja para tamales (corn husks)
Salt to taste

Soak husks in cold water for 4 hours or in hot water for 1 hour
Slow cook chicken in a crock pot covered with chicken broth (or water). Add 1 tablespoon salt. Cook for 5 hours on low or 3 hours on high. Shred and reserve broth.
Remove seeds from tomatoes
Saute chile tepin and garlic with butter until aromatic
Blend tomatoes, garlic, Chile, 1 tablespoon salt
Heat sauce to a boil
Add sauce to shredded chicken
Mix half a bag of masa, approximately 4 cups of reserved chicken broth, and approx 1-2 lbs of lard until consistency of play-doh or peanut butter
(This part can take a lot of trial and error and is not an exact science. Ideally, a small piece of masa should float in a cup of water to indicate that masa is ready)
Spread approx 1-2 tablespoons of masa onto corn husk (Spread on larger portion, leave a space of approximately 1 inch)
Add a tablespoon of meat mixture
Fold over 1 side, fold the other side, then fold the bottom up. (See video for demonstration)
Use a large pot with steaming rack. Stand tamales up (with open side facing up).
Steam for approximately 1.5 hours
Tamales are done when able to be removed from husk easily and dough is cooked